Dangerous Voltages? Updated *got worse* HELP!

[amdhunter]

EDIT: When I run Prime95 for a while @ 3.6GHz, My PSU starts to let out a smell. I've confirmed its the PSU by taking it out the case and letting it run for a little bit. WTF is going on? I see my voltages are stable, but ABIT AGURU is reporting the +5V @ 5.8V when I start Prime...

Let's say you have a really crappy cpu overclocked to non-crappy speeds, but at VERY crappy voltage, but you get non-crappy temps... Is that bad for the life of the CPU?

I got my 2.4AGHz Prescott @ 3.6GHz stable (as far as prime95 goes, I let it run for half hour before I stop it, don't want to leave it too long for now) and it runs less than 65C, where I have the mobo set to alarm, so I know the temps are good. The only bad thing is I had to pump the voltage to the CPU to 1.535V to get rock solid performance. Any less and Prime95 will crap out after 5 min or so.

I hear how voltages on Prescott sometimes drives motherboard sockets/voltage rails nuts, but this ABIT AI7 supposedly has been made for Prescott Thermal/Voltage requirements (or whatever they call it.) The box the CPU came in said, in rather bold lettering, 1.4V MAX so that's where the worry comes in.

LOL, I guess I am just kind of rusty when doing real overclocking lately. My old P4 1.6A made it too easy to overclock without any tweaks whatsoever. I will run Prime longer when I hear some opinions.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

1.35v is what my prescott 3.0ghz runs at

 

[InlineFive]

30min on Prime95 is no where near enough time for a stability test. Run it for 12 hours and then some stressing game benchmarks.

 

[amdhunter]

Yeah, I will eventually. I just want to get some opinions on feeding the Prescott 1.53V before I go into really stressing the CPU overnight.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: amdhunter
Let's say you have a really crappy cpu overclocked to non-crappy speeds, but at VERY crappy voltage, but you get non-crappy temps... Is that bad for the life of the CPU?
.

Yes

Overvolting WILL shorten the life of your CPU. Extreme overvoltage will shorten it's life exponentially.

The "trick" with o/c'ing is to supply just enough voltage to make a marginally unstable CPU - "stable" . . . . most o/c'ers agree that a 10% overvoltage is "reasonable".

 

[amdhunter]

Yeah I know it will die eventually, maybe. But I'm wondering if it will die within a few hours if I super stress test it. I guess I will just try it out and find out myself. I guess I am with 15% not 10%. LOL

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: amdhunter
Yeah I know it will die eventually, maybe. But I'm wondering if it will die within a few hours if I super stress test it. I guess I will just try it out and find out myself. I guess I am with 15% not 10%. LOL

15% is within reason . . . . for the bolder o/c'er.

i don't think it'll die within hours . .. . many of us don't mind shortening a CPU life by 75% (it's supposed to last 6 or more years . . . . it is relatively worthless within two; just don't sell it to some poor "sucker" when you are done with it).

 

[amdhunter]

HAHAH, 6 years? I'd bet I won't have this CPU for 6 months...

 

[amdhunter]

Now I get a bad smell from my PSU, Like an electrical smell. Its pretty bad, smelling an entire living room. help! I did a forum search and found that the smell *may* be normal, but this PSU is about 2 years old and never let out any smell before. Its thouroughly cleaned every 3 months also.

 

[thermalpaste]

Originally posted by: amdhunter
Now I get a bad smell from my PSU, Like an electrical smell. Its pretty bad, smelling an entire living room. help! I did a forum search and found that the smell *may* be normal, but this PSU is about 2 years old and never let out any smell before. Its thouroughly cleaned every 3 months also.

Open your CPU and check for leaky capacitors or burning resistors.
Sometimes, the capacitors or resistors in the PSU tend to burn out. Electolytic capacitors release a slimy liquid that tends to smell when hot. Resistors also can get smelly when they start burning off.......

Good PSUs come with Titanium capacitors, but those aluminium capacitors burn off fast.......

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: amdhunter
Now I get a bad smell from my PSU, Like an electrical smell. Its pretty bad, smelling an entire living room. help! I did a forum search and found that the smell *may* be normal, but this PSU is about 2 years old and never let out any smell before. Its thouroughly cleaned every 3 months also.

Probably overloaded, I would upgrade the PSU immediately.

I blew out/killed/burned my "Allied/Deer/L&C" cheapo "300W" generic PSU in my tower case, after I installed my new KT400 + AMD XP1800+ rig, to replace my PII/440BX rig. It was definately toasted, and I'm probably lucky that it didn't take out my new board at the time as well. I wouldn't risk a nice P4 system to a flaky PSU, get it replaced, pronto!

 

[amdhunter]

Yeah I opened it up, and brown liquid is coming out of the bottom part of a cap. I will upgrade this PSU very soon. Hopefully this weekend. I've backed off the overclocking in the meantime.

 

[amdhunter]

Any suggestions for a computer that has the following components. PSU Wise. Right now my RAIDMAX 400W cant handle it, as I see dips to 11.2V on the 12V rail, and gains on the 5V line up to 5.8V!!!

Components are as follows;

ABIT AI7 + Prescott 2.4A @ 3.6GHz 1.535V
eVGA 6800NU running stock speeds
Kingston Value 3200 + PNY 2700 both running at 160MHz 2-2-2-5 @ 3.05V (PNY can't hit 200FSB stable with Prime)
IBM 15K RPM DRIVE, IBM 10K RPM Drive + TWO 160GB 7200RPM MAXTORS + 2 DVD Drives (1 burner)
3 LED CASE FANS + 2 80mm HD FANS + 1 80mm Vantec Tornado

I am VERY POOR, which is not a good thing, so I cannot afford more than 60 dollars, please keep that in mind. I do not mind refurbished or used parts so please let me know.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[htmlmasterdave]

Get an Enermax 465... it should be more than enough for your setup.

 

[WobbleWobble]

In the future, to make sure you're reading correct voltages use a multimeter. You can read actual voltages from there as software readings have been known to be wrong.

 

[amdhunter]

Yeah, I wish I had one to test with, I may go to radio shack and get one. One thing is certain though. As soon as ABIT UGURU software reports 10.8V on the 12V rail, the computer reboots right away. I have no shutdown limit set, so I am positive a new PSU is in order.

I will look into an Enermax 465+ PSU. Thanks.

 

[amdhunter]

Will this be ok until I can afford a better PS in the future? I heard Powmaxs aren't known for the best quality, but this should be ok for a month or two? My current PSU is a RAIDMAX 400W. I think I read somewhere that these companies are related..?

http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=17-163-017&depa=0

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: amdhunter
Will this be ok until I can afford a better PS in the future? I heard Powmaxs aren't known for the best quality, but this should be ok for a month or two? My current PSU is a RAIDMAX 400W. I think I read somewhere that these companies are related..?

http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=17-163-017&depa=0

I am VERY POOR, which is not a good thing, so I cannot afford more than 60 dollars, please keep that in mind. I do not mind refurbished or used parts so please let me know.

Thermaltake W0014 Silent Purepower 480W

$61 shipped

decent.

ANYthing is better than what you are using now . . . . a cheapie PS will 'get you by' for a month and can always be used as a back-up in future.
:roll:

 

[VirtualLarry]

I wouldn't recommend any ThermalTake PSUs, based on both what I've been reading lately, and what I've seen myself. I'm guessing that they must have a very serious QC problem. I'd look for a cheap AOpen/Sparkle/Fortron Source PSU instead.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
I wouldn't recommend any ThermalTake PSUs, based on both what I've been reading lately, and what I've seen myself. I'm guessing that they must have a very serious QC problem. I'd look for a cheap AOpen/Sparkle/Fortron Source PSU instead.

i'd like to see a reliable link that TT has QC "issues".

i doubt it

 

[amdhunter]

Yeah, I am thinking that I spent a lot of money to take a chance on putting a cheap psu in. I will definitely look at that Thermaltake. I read a few reviews on the PowMax that I linked to at Newegg, and haven't heard anything good. (For example, PowMax uses cheap components, are extremely lightweight, etc.)

I figure its better to not take a chance and blow something up,

 

[amdhunter]

Ending up getting an Ultra XConnect ATX power supply and all of my problems have fixed up! I currently have a pretty stable system now. Thanks to all that replied...